The first double header of the 2025 Formula 1 season brought the grid to China for the second round of the championship - and what a turnaround it was for Ollie Bearman.
After a difficult start to the season, the Shanghai International Circuit offered a clean slate and a new weekend format. The first Sprint weekend of the racing calendar kicked off with a single practice session on Friday, followed by the Sprint Qualifying. Then, on Saturday, the Sprint Race and Grand Prix Qualifying followed, before the Grand Prix itself on Sunday.
Practice
Just days on from the chaos of a wet Melbourne, drivers were back on track in a dry but freshly resurfaced Shanghai. Ollie led the queue out of the Pits in Practice on medium compound tyres and immediately got to work. His early pace was impressive, putting his car up into P11 - outpacing his teammate and well ahead of current World Champion Max Verstappen, who sat in P16.
Sprint Qualifying
With plenty of grip on the new surface, Ollie looked strong in Sprint Qualifying. In SQ1, he delivered a fast and composed lap, catapulting himself into the top 15 and into the second session. In SQ2, he ran inside the top ten for much of the session but was ultimately pushed to P12 as other drivers clocked late improvements to their times.
Sprint Race
Lining up P12 for Saturday’s Sprint, Ollie made a great start, holding position in the early laps. However, tyre wear proved more aggressive than expected and, despite a solid effort in managing the rubber, he slipped down the order to finish P15, collecting valuable data and track time ahead of the weekend’s main event.
Grand Prix Qualifying
In Saturday’s qualifying for the Grand Prix, Ollie again showed great potential early on, running inside the top ten after his first push lap. Unfortunately, after setting his push lap earlier than most and returning to the pits, the team were unable to get Ollie back out in time to complete another fast lap, meaning he did not get the track evolution others benefited from and was knocked out in Q1, qualifying P17.
The Race
Sunday marked World Bear Day, and Ollie delivered a drive worthy of celebrations. Starting from P17 on the grid and one of only two drivers to begin the race on Hard compound tyres, Ollie made an early move, gaining a place on the opening lap. As pit stops unfolded, his strategy started to pay off - by Lap 15, he had climbed to P8.
Switching to Medium compound tyres after 26 laps, Ollie rejoined in P16, but his mission was clear. On Lap 31, Ollie made the bold move on fellow rookie Liam Lawson in the Red Bull before sweeping past Jack Doohan’s Alpine just two laps later. Carlos Sainz’s Williams was next and by Lap 38, Ollie had surged to P11.
The final pass came just two laps later - Pierre Gasly in the Alpine became Ollie’s next target, tactically battling for P10 and into the points. He held off Gasly for the remaining 16 laps of the race, showing great pace and composure.
Post-race disqualifications for the Ferrari’s of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton promoted Ollie to P8, earning him four championship points. It also marked only the second time in F1 history that two teenagers - Bearman and his former F2 teammate Antonelli - finished in the points in the same race (the only other time being Monza in 2017).
With both drivers scoring points, the Moneygram Haas Formula 1 team jumped to sixth in the Constructors’ Championship - a major boost early in the season.
Looking Ahead
With his first points on the board and momentum behind him, Ollie's next stop is Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix from 4-6 April.
